5.05.2015

Review: Things We Know by Heart by Jessi Kirby

Things We Know by Heart by Jessi Kirby

When Quinn Sullivan meets the recipient of her boyfriend’s donated heart, the two form an unexpected connection.After Quinn loses her boyfriend, Trent, in an accident their junior year, she reaches out to the recipients of his donated organs in hopes of picking up the pieces of her now-unrecognizable life. She hears back from some of them, but the person who received Trent’s heart has remained silent. The essence of a person, she has always believed, is in the heart. If she finds Trent’s, then maybe she can have peace once and for all. Risking everything in order to finally lay her memories to rest, Quinn goes outside the system to track down nineteen-year-old Colton Thomas—a guy whose life has been forever changed by this priceless gift. But what starts as an accidental run-in quickly develops into more, sparking an undeniable attraction. She doesn't want to give in to it—especially since he has no idea how they're connected—but their time together has made Quinn feel alive again. No matter how hard she’s falling for Colton, each beat of his heart reminds her of all she’s lost…and all that remains at stake.

First Line:"I don't know how I knew, when the sirens woke me just before dawn, that they were for him."

Review:When I picked up Things We Know by Heart I was expecting a raw emotional ride of a book instead I found it lacking of what I expected, nonetheless I did like it and found it to be a quick yet predictable read.

Going in I knew the book would deal with life and death, grief and healing. So I was really expecting something that would just blow me away and probably have me shed a couple of tears of my own but that didn't happen. Quinn's boyfriend died a year ago and she is still not over it, she hasn't healed from it and is still very much grieving over him. One way she has tried to move on is by meeting all the people that received organs from him but you can clearly see that hasn't helped her one bit. There is only one person she hasn't met yet, the person who received Tren'ts heart...Colton. When they meet it's like her grief is just all of a sudden going away especially the deeper she falls for him. I guess that bugged me a little because now I'm wondering is the message in that whole thing that finding new love is what conquers grief? It really felt like she just replaced Trent with Colton and never truly healed. I would have loved the book more if we saw her dealing with her grief and healing on her own and because of that she slowly was able to let go and have a honest relationship grow with Colton.

It also did take me a minute to really like Quinn. I don't like how she lied to Colton...okay more like a lie of omission but it went on for so long it wasn't right. She had so many chances to tell him who she was and instead I felt it was selfish of her not to tell him especially seeing what he was going through.

Now as for Colton, I loved him. I honestly wish there were chapters in his point of view. He was happy to be alive but he lived with the guilt that the reason he was alive is because someone died, and his life still isn't easy after the fact because he is on a whole bunch of medications for the rest of his life, the people around him treat him like he is fragile and all he wants to do is live his life and not be reminded about his heart condition. I would have also loved it when after Colton did learn the truth about Quinn we got a more in-depth exploration of his emotions the anger he must have felt and the betrayal or even guilt.

Overall Things We Know by Heart was actually a quick easy read which I didn't expect. I liked the story but it could have been so much more.

Memorable Quotes

~"....but it's terrifying to realize how much of your world is wrapped around loving another person."

~*Est. Feb 2011*~
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